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MSU alumnus, Justin Abdelkader, is arguably off to his best start in his eighth season with the Detroit Red Wings. Abdelkader had 15 points in just 24 games played, scoring 7 goals and 8 assists.

Unfortunately, Abdelkader was victim to a vicious hit from Luca Sbisa in late November. He suffered a separated shoulder and initially was day-to-day. The following day, the Red Wings announced he would miss two weeks with an upper body injury.

See the hit here:

Abdelkader has been a big reason for the Red Wings early success this year. He has been producing points and has been a force to be reckoned with in front of the net. Drawing comparisons from Red Wing’s great Tomas Holmstrom

Abdelkader returned to practice prior to the Red Wings, 2-1, over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Red Wings will need Abdelkader’s fearlessness and leadership back on the ice to stay at the top of a competitive Eastern Conference.

The Detroit Red Wings dropped another shoot out loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1. The Wings snapped a three-game winning streak at Joe Louis Arena but earned a point to get to 17-6-6 in the 2014 season.

The Wings notched their 40th point of the season and are at the top of the Eastern Conference. Young guys on the team such as Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco, and Gustav Nyquist continue to step up for Detroit.

However, there has been a lot of production from a variety of lines. Points have been evenly distributed so far this season and has allowed Detroit to complete several come from behind victories.

Last night, Gus Nyquist put the Wings up early against their Atlantic rivals, the Tornoto Maple Leafs. However, a defensive breakdown resulted in a Phil Kessel goal in the third period to tie the game.

Red Wings shootout struggles continued as Pavel Datsyuk scored the only goal. Both Nyquist and Tatar were denied respectively. Jimmy Howard, who has been outstanding this season for the Red Wings, gave up two goals in the shootout. Both goals were through his five-hole and concerns about the Wings performance during shootouts needs to be addressed.

Things are heating up around the MLB as winter meetings began this December. Representatives from all 30 teams gather for four days full of transactions and trades, commonly known as “MLB’s hot stove.”

The Detroit Tigers made a big trade today dealing right-handed pitcher Rick Porcello to the Boston Red Sox for Cuban slugger Yoenis Cespedes. Porcello has been with the Tigers since 2009 and has six seasons of starting pitcher under his belt at the young age of 25.

Porcello has proven himself a reliable starting pitcher, winning 28 games over the past two seasons. He made his living with Tigers getting a lot of groundouts and few walks. In 2014, he ranked 20th among qualified starters with a walks/nine inning rate of 1.80.

Cespedes will be welcomed with open arms in the Motor City. Cespedes provides a big arm in leftfield, which has been a missing piece in the Tigers outfield recently. He showed off his arm strength twice last year against the Los Angeles Angles. First, gunning Howie Kendrick at home and he nailed Albert Pujols at the third base.

Cespedes will also make the pitcher’s ballpark in Comerica look much smaller with his power. In 2014, he hit 22 homeruns and had a slugging percentage of .450.

I have always been a fan of Rick Porcello. He received a lot of criticism in the early stages of his career for not producing to his potential. However, Porcello won a lot of Tigers fans the past two seasons. I think it was a good trade for both the Tigers and Red Sox but I’m still sad to see Ricky P go. Here is my personal favorite Rick Porcello moment in his time spent with the Tigers.

In the modern era of NCAA athletics, there is one burning question that is debated by the media and all of sports fans: should NCAA athletes be paid?

Most recently, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel landed himself in hot water after a photo of himself signing a pile of photographs was leaked prior to the 2013 season.

There is a fine line between amateurism and professionalism in NCAA athletics. The use of athletes’ likeness is rigorously monitored by NCAA officials in an attempt to maintain amateurism in collegiate athletics.

Therefore, after the photo was leaked, the NCAA immediately launched an investigation to discover if he violated his amateur status.

However, the media, in particular ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, exposed the hypocrisy of the NCAA’s investigation via social media.